7 POSTS.
FEATURE Image: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of Old English annals. The oldest manuscript of the Chronicle that survives was begun at the Old Minster in Winchester, England, during the reign of King Alfred the Great (871–899). The manuscript begins with a genealogy of Alfred, and the first chronicle entry is for the year 60 B.C. “Parker Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” by Nick in exsilio is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
FRANCE. Thirty miles west of Paris, the 1000-year-old fortified royal town of MONTFORT L’AMAURY, showcases its 11th century crusaders’ castle, 16th century flamboyant Gothic church with 37 intact Renaissance stained-glass windows and homes of 20th century composer Maurice Ravel and playwright Jean Anouilh.
FEATURED image: Manuscript 16th century (detail): Queen consort Anne of Brittany (1477-1514) receiving a Book of Hours from her Dominican confessor, Antoine Dufour (d.1509). Montfort L’Amaury returned to the crown of France after Anne of Brittany married Charles VIII “the Affable” (1470-1498) in 1491. At the north edge of the Rambouillet forest the city of…
FRANCE. STÉPHANE MALLARMÉ (1842-1898), Symbolist poet.
FEATURE Image: Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé, 1891. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337818 – retrieved August 27, 2025. Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) is an important Symbolist poet of the last half of the 19th century in France. Throughout his writing career, Mallarmé helped formulate and express the rising anti-naturalism in contemporary art. This movement’s inclinations mainly took the…
FRANCE. Last battles, death mask of NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769-1821) at the 200th anniversary of his death on May 5, 1821, on remote Saint Helena.
FEATURED image: Napoleon near Borodino, Vasily Vereshchagin (1842–1904), 1897, oil on canvas, State Historical Museum, Moscow. Major facts of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) are well known. Known as Napoleon I, the French Emperor who died two centuries ago was a shrewd, ambitious and skilled military leader who conquered much of Europe in the…
BRITAIN. Lord Byron, George Gordon (1788-1824), Romantic Poet.
FEATURE Image: Lord Byron in Albanian Dress, 1813, Thomas Phillips (1770-1856). Public Domain. Lord Byron (George Gordon), 1788-1824, Letter to poet Thomas Moore, October 28, 1815. Byron’s Letters and Journals, vol. 4 (1973-81; edited by Leslie A. Marchand). Lord Byron (George Gordon), 1788-1824, Byron’s Letters and Journals, vol. 8 (1973-81; edited by Leslie A. Marchand).…
BRITAIN. John Keats (1795-1821) Poet.
FEATURE image: The poet John Keats, c. 1822, by William Hilton after Joseph Severn (1819), oil on canvas, 30 in. x 25 in., Nation Portrait Gallery, London. Public Domain. John Keats’s first book of poems was published in 1817 when the English poet was 22 years old. From an early age, Keats, studying under the…
BRITAIN. E.M. Forster (1879-1970), A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1908).
FEATURE image: E.M. Forster. Public Domain. Edward Morgan Forster was born in London in 1879. He wrote numerous short stories, essays, biographies and plays, although he is best known for his novels, particularly A Room With A View (1908), Howards End (1910), and A Passage to India (1924), all of which have been made into award-winning…
FRANCE. “NOTRE DAME IS ON FIRE!”: architectural history of the 12th century Gothic cathedral and its shocking blaze of April 15, 2019.
FEATURE image: Notre Dame under re-construction, 2019. N.B. Following more than five years of restorative work gathering artisans, donors, and planners from across the spectrum of global society, Notre Dame de Paris was gloriously re-opened at a celebratory dedication ceremony attended by the world’s dignitaries, including 40 heads of state, on December 8, 2024. Begun…
FRANCE. Dans Le Vieux Paris: EUGÈNE ATGET (1857-1927), photographer.
FEATURE image: Eugène Atget, Place Saint-Médard, 1889-99. Eugène Atget, Photographer’s Studio, c. 1910. Atget was born in 1857 near Bordeaux (Libourne) and after his parents died in 1862, the 5-year-old boy was brought up by his grandparents in Bordeaux. Atget received a solid education and, similar to Paul Gauguin, eventually went to sea in the…
IRELAND. 14 IRISH LEADERS executed for proclaiming the Irish Republic during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland.
FEATURE image: Cú Chulainn dying in battle, 1911, bronze, by Oliver Sheppard (1865 – 1941), General Post Office (G.P.O.), Dublin, Ireland. Public Domain. By John P. Walsh. May 12, 2016. Today marks the centenary of the final executions of Irish rebel leaders by British firing squads in connection with the 1916 Easter Rising which proclaimed an…
BRITAIN. 40-year-old Scottish KING JAMES IV (1473-1513), king since 1488, walked the world stage and is killed instantly on September 9, 1513, in northernmost England at the Battle of Flodden Field. His successor, James V, is 17 months old.
FEATURE image: Portrait of James IV, after 1578, artist unknown, 41.2 x 33 cm, National Galleries Scotland. Public Domain. The earliest Middleton church was dedicated to Saint Cuthbert around 880 as pagan Danes were then attacking the north of England. Following William the Conqueror in 1066, the Normans built a larger church dedicated to Saint…
